


round in circles

by Laburnum26



Category: Syberia
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, disclaimer: I haven't played Syberia 3 yet, i think we can say that this is some sort of au, so excuse me, when I started this I had no idea how he looked like or how old he was, where nick cantin is a young and brilliant detective
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-16
Updated: 2019-01-16
Packaged: 2019-10-11 05:54:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17441177
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laburnum26/pseuds/Laburnum26
Summary: Kate Walker, as she continues her journey towards the mysterious land of Syberia, keeps getting calls from time to time. Turns out that one particular detective is really determined to track her down, even if that means spending hours on the phone with Kate trying to get as much information out of her as he can. But Kate Walker is smarter than that so the cat-mouse game between two quick witted and stubborn people commence.





	round in circles

**Author's Note:**

> Okay guys, so, I CAN EXPLAIN! :D I recently started replaying Syberia II and the nostalgia hit me right in the feels! I remembered that when I used to play this game, I used to ship Cantin and Kate just because they were, well sort of, opponents and had good chemistry just from those few phone calls. (I know, I see ships everywhere...) Then I googled him and turns out that he is in Syberia III and he isn't quite what I imagined, not to mention that they had no chemistry in that scene where they met (I watched only that scene because I didn't want to spoil the whole game for myself) o So, I ask you guys, if you've played the third game before (I haven't but will do so some day), please try to disregard the Nick Cantin in that game and maybe treat this as an au or however you wish to interpret it. Besides that, I hope you enjoy this start of a fic and let me know what you think about it!^^ (I know, this fandom is kinda dead but if someone acccidentally stumbled upon this and liked it, it would really make my day :D)

The sharp noise of her phone ringing cut through the heavy silence of the wagon and Kate Walker was up in her bed in the blink of an eye. She reached out into the darkness, grabbing onto thin air a few times before actually managing to find her cellphone. When she brought the small device to her face, she stared at the screen varily, squinting slightly in the artificial light. It was that number again. Well, Kate couldn't be sure because the screen read "unidentified number" but she would have bet a year's worth of her salary that it was the same number which has been calling her over and over again for the past couple of days now. She sighed while contemplating on her options. Obviously, she couldn't ignore the phone calls for forever. She had to tell her boss sooner or later that she had decided to never go back. Syberia, this dreamland, whether it was fantasy or not intrigued Kate much more than she would have liked to admit it. But of course, being the professional she was, she had to keep her mind and options open. Should Han's land of mammoths turn out to be nothing but a desperate daydream of an old and broken man, she had to be able to get back to New York with still having a job, preferably. But for now, Kate had to make a decision and she had decided to stay and her boss should get that through his thick skull even if it would get her fired. She sighed into the darkness as she pressed the green button on her phone and lifted the device to her ears.   
"I'm not going back," she said with a voice made of steel, leaving no place for any arguments. The voice on the other end of the phone chuckled.   
"You don't even know what I wanted to say, Miss Walker" it said with a great deal of amusement. The voice was a cheerful one with a slight accent which immediately made Kate wonder what part of the USA the speaker was from.    
"You're not Marson," Kate constated loud, her brows furrowing. It was a man, she could tell as much, but it was clearly not her boss.   
"No, I'm not," the mysterious caller agreed.    
"Anyway, tell him that I'm not coming back and to stop trying to reach me."   
"What makes you think that I know this Marson guy?" the man asked, clearly interested in the answer.   
"Let's see..." Kate faked a pondering tone. "First, I get a call from my boss to come back and then after I hang up, suddenly a hidden number starts calling me here, in the middle of nowhere. Let's just say that I have a hunch that you work for Marson. Also, you knew my name," she replied flatly.   
"Not bad, Miss Walker," the voice actually sounded pleased now. "You know, Marson told me to fetch a crazy woman who ran off in the search of a nonexistent fairytale, but you seem to be in just fine mental condition to me," he said, almost chuckling.   
"All lawyers are a bit crazy," Kate shrugged.   
"No judgment here," the cheerful voice assured her.    
"Though not as crazy as some random man, calling at 2 a.m. in the morning, whose name I still don't know," she added with some sarcasm in her voice.   
"You're not wrong, Miss Walker," he said. "I guess an introduction is due since I suppose we're gonna be spending many hours a day trying to get you to come back to the fine city of New York," he said, not even trying to mask the true intention of his call. At least, he was being honest, Kate had to give him that. "The name's Nick Cantin, private detective at your service," he said and Kate could almost imagine the man's silhouette taking a bow.   
"You seem rather confident. You don't know where I am, you don't know how I look like or how I behave. Yet you are so sure that I'll keep picking up my phone even after knowing it's you, trying to take me back. Why?" Kate asked.   
"Because, let's face it, Miss Walker, I'm the most sane person you have talked with for months now. Automatons, Voralberg and children aren't the best company," he said.

"And what makes you think that you are more socially skilled that an automaton, Mr Cantin? Calling people at the break of dawn then evilly laughing into the phone isn't exactly the most common form of communication." Kate drawled. This phone call was nothing she had expected but maybe that was part of the guy's plan too.    
"I did not laugh evilly, I was merely amused by your odd form of greeting, Miss Walker. However, I still think I'm skilled enough to track you down even if I'm not able talk you out of this... whatever mess you got into. But I'll let you off the hook easily this time since I believe I gathered enough information for today," the man said, sounding quite pleased with himself.   
"Is that so? What kind of information did you manage to gather from only five minutes of a conversation, Mr Cantin?" Kate inquired calmly, her voice not betraying her annoyance.   
"Well, obviously, you aren't actually in the middle of nowhere and in fact you are within quite the range of a phone tower, since I can hear you very clearly, Miss Walker. And I can also hear very clearly the distant clatter and huffing of engines, so I suppose you are staying on a train at the moment. Not to mention that because you didn't even flinch at the mention of Voralberg, I guess he is actually with you, wherever that may be," the detective replied, his tone almost sounding bored. "Also, you are definitely right, 2.am is such an early time to be talking with people. It's such a hassle you know... Getting up, reaching for the phone, speaking while the mind's half asleep is hard. God knows, one might even say things that they would usually think through before opening their mouth!" the man yawned. "You are absolutely right, Kate Walker."   
Kate could feel dread sweeping over her body. This man was no child, even though he did sound cheerful. He was a professional with every move carefully planned, with traps hidden everywhere in his speech. One wrong move and she might end up back in New York before she could say "Syberia" out loud. She had to keep her cool.   
"Not bad, Mr Cantin," she repeated the man's sentence from earlier, her voice measured and sounding as fake-pleased as she could manage."But as entertaining this conversation may be, it is in fact, pointless. I'm sorry to disappoint you and leave you to your own devices but I have some urgent sleeping to do. And I suggest you don't try calling me again, since my phone will be turned off for some time. I hope you understand, Mr Cantin," she continued, her voice dripping with sarcastic politeness.    
"Oh, believe me, Miss Walker, I do. I always loved a good chase," the man said but the tension was quite clear in his voice. Looks like Kate managed to rile him up rather well and now his not-so-implied threat couldn't be taken so seriously.   
She didn't reply, just pressed the red button on her phone and aborted the call. She then sat there for a couple of minutes, staring at the screen while shaking her head incredulously. Then she laid back onto the rather thin mattress and closed her eyes. She drifted off to sleep without any worries on her mind.   



End file.
